About The Ship

In the late 1980s, Canada’s Navy recognized the need for an effective coastal defence platform that would complement Canada’s balanced, combat-capable, general-purpose maritime forces. The decision to build twelve KINGSTON-Class Maritime Coastal Defence Vessels (MCDV) has met this requirement. The first vessel in the class was launched in August 1995, and the last one delivered in December 1998.
 
These ships were designed and built to commercial standards, although some key areas, such as stability, flood control, manoeuvrability and ammunition storage are built to military specifications.  Versatility is a key feature of these vessels. Each ship is able to accept and operate several different types of portable modules (payloads) for missions such as: bottom object inspections, minesweeping, and route survey. These payloads are complemented by specific team training and logistics support.
 
The primary role of these vessels is coastal surveillance and patrol. This involves a wide variety of missions including: general naval operations and exercises; search and rescue; and support to other government departments for various activities such as law enforcement, resource protection, and pollution control.
 
Well-trained crews are essential to any ship.  The MCDV are primarily crewed by a maximum of 34 naval reservists and 2 Regular Force personnel. The size of the crew can be adjusted to meet operational requirements.  Each crew member receives extensive occupational training, plus tailored training unique to the MCDV in one of the following: communication, navigation, engineering, mine countermeasures or route survey.
 
In keeping with Maritime Command’s commitment to achieving a more equitable balance of naval assets between the East and West Coasts, six MCDV have been assigned to each coast; they are based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Esquimalt, British Columbia.  The MCDV are equipped with four state-of-the-art route survey equipment packages, equally distributed on the East and West Coasts.  This technology allows high quality geo-coded sonar imagery of the sea bed, which is essential in both the development of route mapping, and the detection and classification of mine-like objects. The single-bottom-object-inspection payload provides the capability to inspect objects on the sea bed using video sensors mounted on a remotely operated vehicle. With the standardized modular payload capability, the MCDV can be fitted with other types of mission possibilities.

Built in Halifax, Nova Scotia, HMCS SASKATOON is the tenth of the twelve MCDV.  HMCS SASKATOON is the second warship to be proudly named after the City of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (see the link "History" to the left for more information on the first ship).  She was named in the ship-launching tradition on March 30, 1998. 

HMCS SASKATOON was commissioned into Her Majesty's service on December 5, 1998, in a traditional ceremony at Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt.  She now serves proudly as part of Canadian Fleet Pacific.

For more information about these and other Canadian Navy ships, see the Navy's fleet web page.